1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to aircraft and, in particular, to transport elements in aircraft. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for verifying that wires in an aircraft provide a desired level of performance.
2. Background
Aircraft have become increasingly more complex over time. More and more components in the aircraft are comprised of electrical devices. These electrical devices may form the avionics in the aircraft. For example, the avionics may include communications systems, navigation systems, sensor monitoring systems, environmental control systems, in-flight entertainment systems, aircraft flight control systems, collision avoidance systems, weather systems, aircraft management systems, and other suitable systems.
These and other systems may form a network within the aircraft. The different systems may be powered by and communicate with each other through transport elements such as wires, optical fibers, wireless signals, and other types of transport elements. For example, wires may run through different portions of the aircraft such as the fuselage, wings, stabilizers, and other portions of the aircraft.
The wires may form a wiring system within the aircraft. With the amount of wires present in an aircraft, selecting locations and redundancy for wiring systems in an aircraft may follow different designs to provide for a desired level of operation of the aircraft. For example, it is desirable that the aircraft be capable of continued safe flight and landing in the event that portions of the wiring system do not operate as desired.
Different undesired events may affect the ability of portions of the wiring system to function as desired. An undesired event may be, for example, an electromagnetic event such as lightning, a bird strike, excessive power flow, and other undesired events. In providing a desired level of operation, the routing of wires through the aircraft may be selected such that different events leave sufficient portions of the wires in the wiring system in a condition to carry power, data, and other types of signals such that different electrical systems may operate as desired in the aircraft during flight.
The number of redundancy in wires, the routing of wires, and other parameters about wires used with electrical systems are regulated through rules from governmental entities. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration provides regulations on requirements for electrical systems and the wiring for those systems. Manufacturers design wiring systems to connect electrical systems that fulfill these requirements.
In fulfilling these requirements, aircraft designs are created to meet the requirements of the regulations. Simulations are run, designs are revised, tests are performed with wiring systems, and other operations are performed in the development of an aircraft.
Further, after an aircraft is developed, customers may select different types of electrical systems. For example, some clients may select different types of in-flight entertainment systems, environmental control systems, and other types of systems. These different systems often result in changes to the wiring system. As a result, the changes are analyzed to verify that the wiring system will meet the requirements of the regulations.
With the numerous systems and large amounts of wiring, identifying desired routing and redundancy in an aircraft to meet regulations may take more time and effort than desired. Currently, the verification of the routing is performed line by line for wires and other lines by a human operator. This process is extremely tedious and time consuming even with the use of computer aided design programs due to the complexity of the systems in aircraft. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above as well as other possible issues.